rememberingadamfinley

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.

One of the things that Adam was so good at was taking a simple little blurb about some television personality or another and making up a little 'theater of the mind' play for the audience to laugh about. One of the last times he did this was back in August when he reported on Ryan Seacrest (who is most likely attempting to take over the world) becoming host of this year's Emmys. Adam, we will miss you.

FOX announced today that Ryan Seacrest will be hosting the 59th Emmy Awards on FOX September 16 at 8:00 p.m. This news comes in the wake of the announcement that Seacrest will also be hosting the Super Bowl.

I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, as I don't watch American Idol, E! News, Captain Seacrest's Pirate Ship Hootenanny, or whatever the hell other series he's featured on. Still, isn't the typical rule for awards shows to have some kind of comedian hosting them?

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.A little secret about TV blogging: some of the stories we cover are boring as hell. Sometimes it's hard to make some news story about cable programming interesting. Adam was the best at it. This is titled "Learn About Cans For Some Reason," about a National Geographic Channel special on tin cans. I think it shows Adam's cleverness, his love of quirky documentaries, and his knack for making a dry topic really really funny.

In all of human history, no object is as revered as the mighty can: holder of both liquid and solids, aluminum liner of truck floors in most Southern states, and able to double as a phone or a bong whenever the situation calls for it. Where would we be without the can? I'll tell you where: at the store trying to mop loose soup into our grocery bags with a sponge, crying out to whomever will listen: "why isn't there some kind of receptacle that will hold this soup?"

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.

When we limited our lists to just five items, Adam was able to take that format and run with it, coming up with some very creative lists. This one is a good one; he talks about his favorite characters that are never shown on screen. As I went over his posts, I looked at some of the lists he created and thought "I could have never come up with that," which I think is a pretty high compliment.

Some of the most memorable characters in television were never actually seen. They were talked about, and their presence, even if it was always offscreen, was often crucial to the plot. I've come up with five awesome (but unseen) TV characters. Here they are:

Vera: From what I recall, Vera, the wife of beer-lover Norm Peterson on Cheers, made only one appearance on the show, and that was just her legs. According to both Wikipedia and IMDb, she was played by George Wendt's real-life wife, Bernadette Birkette.

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.

Adam first caught my attention before I even started writing here. Not only was he so prolific, but the array of topics covered was amazing! Adam found some of the quirkiest and most intriguing stories out there and, oddly enough, his stories often hit a warm spot or a familiar place for me -- whether it be for a certain show or, in this case, an artist I admire and a show that's made of childhood memories for me. By touching me with his writing, his choice of topics, and his ability to make me smile with the turn of a phrase, Adam touched my life.

A quick history for those who don't know who Edward Gorey is: he was an artist and writer best known for his stark, macabre drawings, often featuring children. Perhaps his best-known work is Gashlycrumb Tinies, the story of twenty-six children (each one representing a letter of the alphabet) who each meet a grisly demise ("R is for Rhoda consumed by a fire," etc).

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.

You may have forgotten them, but Adam didn't. Adam had something of a steel trap mind when it came to animation and all things Muppet-related. You were a sucker if you even tried to write up an animation story for TV Squad. Chances were Adam had the story covered before you were even born. I love this Sesame Street list because it shows off two things Adam had in spades - crazy, Muppet knowledge and compassion. Who else would take the time to remember the forgotten ones? Adam knew how to get our warm, snuggly nostalgia synapses firing.

We've all grown up with Sesame Street, right? We all know who Kermit, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Grover are, but what about those Muppets who, while not as popular, are still a vital part of the human/Muppet mix who populate the popular street? Or are no longer a part of Sesame Street at all? There's way more than five, I can tell you that, but here's five of my favorite "second tier" Muppets from Sesame Street. Some are gone, some are just forgotten. Grab a bowl of Cheerios and your footy jammies and share some of your own memories in the comments. Now let's do it:

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.

This is one of my favorite posts by Adam. It beautifully captures his weird sense of humor, which I have admired from the very beginning. I think I read this particular post for the first time when I was in a crowded computer lab. I ended up causing myself quite a bit of embarrassment by suddenly bursting into laughter in front of everyone. It didn't take me long to learn not to read Adam's work while in public.

FOX's animation-heavy Sunday lineup kicks off this Sunday starting with The Simpsons at 8, American Dad at 8:30, Family Guy at 9, and The War at Home at 9:30. That doesn't matter though, because we're not going to talk about those shows right now. Instead, let's dive into the nifty press pack FOX sent out to promote their returning Sunday shows. After the jump you'll see pictures of me enjoying all the cool free stuff. Please be aware that I suffer from a rare skin condition, and I'm only twenty-two inches tall. Okay, let's tear into this kit:

Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.Adam approached me about this idea of 'Extra Hollywood Access' back in 2005, and even the simple idea of it had me in stitches. This particular post was a followup to another EHA post he did, where he got quite a few "Claymaniacs" upset. The image he drew up along with his explanation of it is sheer genius.

First things first. I caused a minor kerfuffle when, in my last column, I wrote "If there exist a metaphysical bridge between 'gay' and 'southern' it is Clay Aiken." This was erroneously construed as a slam against The Clay and caused a few folks to venture a guess as to what the hell I meant by that. The statement was not an insult. It was the result of months of exhaustive research that took me on a journey not only to the outer reaches of the cosmos, but into the depths of my very soul.

We are all devastated here at TV Squad. Adam was truly one of the good guys, and if you read his work here and elsewhere on the web, you know that he was a funny, talented, special person. I've known him for several years, even before TV Squad, and I'm truly at a loss for words.

If you're wondering why Adam has posts after Thursday, it's because that's how the post scheduling works here sometimes. We here actually didn't hear the news of Adam's passing until Saturday afternoon.